Ha ha...Very funny...

Well, having boys has yet again provided me with endless entertainment. I'm sure I'll get Mother-Of-The-Year Award for posting this but my boys don't get on the internet anyway... Will I share? Of course I will.

Needed info...

So. Being the oldest of five brothers and sisters, I had the "priviledge" of having offspring first. Yay me. The first to not know what the heck I was doing with Jacob...you know the guessing game. This is how it looked back in 2000... Examples...

Kerrie -Are they hungry, wet, fussy, gassy, etc. Is THAT suppose to happen? What IS that?

Siblings - ...

Kerrie -What do you think? Oh that's right, I'm the only one who has a baby so far. I can't ask you!

Siblings - We are all going out to do such and such for hours on end, do you want to come?

Kerrie -Oh no thanks, I'm going to stay here. Alone. With my infant. Good times.

Siblings - I'm going to take a nap.

Kerrie - A nap? What exactly is the definition of that?

Well, things have changed a little over the last 10 years. Now there are 8 grandchildren and mine are ages 10, 8, and 5. My baby sisters have babies and I couldn't be more thrilled. (thrilled to be able to take a nap while they are falling asleep eating) Did I say that outloud?

No, I do have sympathy for them and help them when I can. Only because I know what it's like.

Getting closer to the actual story...

So. Now that my darling boys are the "older" ones in the group, not the babies, there is a whole new side of the equation that I didn't know about. When I was "feeding" Jacob there was noone to look at me funny or wonder what I'm doing. You get the point. I was the only one. Now that my two sisters and my darling SIL have babies, it's a whole new ballgame. (can someone pinch hit for me) There are little eyes watching everything.

Acutal story...

So. There came a time where I had to sit down my older two, and talk to them about what Aunt SoAndSo (name changed to protect the identity and embarrassment of the innocent) was doing under the "Hooter Hider." (affectionately called) OK. So God made women to......and when they have their baby their bodies......and that's how......and milk......and remember it was God, not me, who invented this so don't shoot the messenger. I told them we need to give Aunt SoAndSo privacy and not to joke about it, etc. It's a natural, wonderful, thing, yada yada yada.

Funny part is actually coming...

So. There I was with my 10 and 8 year old boys talking about boobs. Yay me. Aaron interrupted and said "Caleb has a bracelet that says, I LOVE BOOBS." I quickly asked..."Is it pink?" And he said, "Yes." Whew! Breast Cancer Awareness. Thank you Lord. I didn't really want to think that my 5 year old has a bracelet...nevermind... So I explained the Pink Ribbon that we see everywhere and that it's a really good cause for a serious issue. Now that brought up the bumper sticker that Jacob had seen that said "Save the TaTa's." Well, people...that did it for Aaron. He did not stop laughing for an hour. I told him there are several names for breasts (okay hundreds) that they will hear in their lifetime. Michael walked in and asked Aaron why he was laughing and Aaron said, "Well! Mama keeps saying some really funny words." I told him that even though he thinks MY body is weird...just wait a few years and you'll soon realize, yours is ALOT weirder than mine. At least I don't have a ding dong! He laughed and said, "No, I guess I'm just used to mine. Yall's is weird."

So there you have it. Save the tata's, boobs, breasts, whatever you call them. Thank you to my sisters and SIL for making great conversations come up between my boys and myself. Just remember, I have boys. Michael gets to give the "other" talk. Y'all have alot of fun times and fun conversations coming up in a few years with all those girls! Love y'all!!!

From a mom of three boys and proud of my tata's,

Kerrie

Fall Gift

Here is a great little homemade gift you can give for a Thanksgiving hostess treat or make some up for your neighbors for Christmas. Homemade Granola. No, I'm not going organic or living by candlelight. I still like pesticides on my fruit and I don't recycle my ziplock baggies. I got this yummy recipe from my friend Holly and it will be listed below.

To make it special, I put them in mason jars and put a little cellophane around them. Instead of fabric, I used scrapbook paper to put under my lid and tied it with ribbon and printed and punched out a little tag. I LOVE this stuff in yogurt, on top of my Blue Bell, or just by the handful.

Homemade Granola

3 1/2 cups Old fashioned Oats

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup pecans or walnuts

5 tsp veggie oil

5 Tbls Pure Maple Syrup

1 tsp salt

Mix ingredients together and spread out on baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring once throughout.

Don't Cry Over Spilled...Crumbcake

OK. So I have to pause your regularly scheduled postings of NC for this "special" update. So Aaron has been asking me for months to make Crumbcake "like Mrs. Julie makes." Well, of course I had to, but just kept forgetting to get it at the store. So he would ask me every now and then "Mom, did you get the stuff to make Crumbcake yet?" Like a good mom I replied, "No, I forgot again..."

So! Finally!! I got a wonderful little box of Krusteaz Crumbcake mix and woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. to milk the cows and be a good mommy and make crumbcake from scratch...well...kindof. If it involves the oven for me it's from scratch. Anyway, my morning was consisting of getting myself ready and three boys ready for school. Caleb had a Thanksgiving program a Thanksgiving Feast (which I was in charge of) and eat with Aaron for his 3rd grade meal. The cake was smelling so good and 45 minutes later it was ready. I got it out of the oven and put it in the freezer to cool off so I wouldn't burn my sweet children as they scarfed it down before school.

A few minutes later after finding school shoes, signing folders, making Jacob's lunch etc., I went to get the cake out of the freezer. Yep, you guessed it...the long awaited, beautiful, better-than-Mrs. Julie's-Crumbcake, fell on the floor and broke. Now, mind you, I time everything very carefully to get the boys to school on time everyday. This delay could have set any other "normal" mom back. Nope, I just stared at it for about 5 minutes actually thinking...I wonder if I could get all the glass out? Maybe...No I can't...They can just eat the top...No... Kept staring at it and finally broke out the Toaster Strudels. Breakfast of champions.

I still have a dirty kitchen and I still owe Aaron a crumbcake.

P.S. Don't you every wonder when something breaks how there is soooo much more glass to clean up that was every there to begin with?

Blue Ridge Mountains

This is one of our first pictures together on our trip. We stopped at a scenic overlook and saw the reason why this area is called the Blue Ridge Mountains. I never knew it was for the blue hue that the mountains cast!